Video content is a form of multimedia that is increasingly viewed and manipulated by consumers. With the increasing proliferation of audio and video content available to consumers via broadcast, cable, on-demand, fixed media, and other available sources of multimedia content, consumers have the ability and option to consume an ever increasing amount of content and programming. The vast amount of available programming could render it difficult for consumers to enjoy all of the content he or she desires. Also, many devices and services available in the marketplace allow consumers to record, time-shift or view on-demand video and audio content. These devices and/or services can allow a consumer to enjoy such content at a time other than their initial broadcast or delivery. Such devices and/or services can also allow a consumer to fast-forward or rewind programming which enables quicker viewing of the content or replay of certain scenes contained within the content. Further, video content is increasingly delivered via the internet or other data services in the form of downloadable content or IPTV delivered video services.
Further, the need to analyze, edit, and process digital multimedia content, for example, digital audio or digital video, has become a desired necessity for consumers recording or creating their own content. For example, a home movie may be recorded using a personal camcorder and transferred to a personal computer for processing, editing, or long-term storage. Digital camcorders, for example, record audio, video, and other information related to the home movie in digital form, such as on tape, computer memory, or a mass storage medium. The home movie may then be transferred to a personal computer using any number of interfaces, and then stored as a digital stream such as multimedia file in a number of common formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or DV, for example.
As a further example, musicians frequently record, edit, and mix audio in digital format, and therefore, commonly process audio bitstreams during the editing process. Similar to video bitstreams, audio bitstreams may include data streams such as the title, author, and copyright year in the bitstream itself. This audio may be stored as a digital stream such as multimedia file in a number of common formats such as MP3, WAV, or MPEG Audio, for example.
Unfortunately, many consumers have neither the time nor inclination to consume all such content in its entirety. The above mentioned content is frequently stored, delivered or broadcast in unedited form. That is, such content is typically not edited for brevity or even delivered with important or eventful scenes tagged or noted for their importance in a manner that allows consumers to quickly view important scenes or a summarized version of the programming.
Frequently, consumers are inclined to fast-forward recorded or on-demand programming to view the programming in a shorter period of time than its original live or unedited running time. However, simply fast-forwarding through audio or video content can render it difficult for a consumer to view scenes or events in the programming that the typical viewer may find exciting or important. For example, a soccer match may contain only a few instances of a goal being scored or a few impressive non-goal events. A consumer may miss such scenes in such content if he/she is viewing the event and attempting to shorten the amount of time to view the event by simply fast-forwarding. Further, simply fast-forwarding through audio or video content provides a consumer with a less than ideal viewing experience, particularly when saving time is a concern of the viewer.